11.16.2010

A House panel on Tuesday found Representative Charles B. Rangel guilty of 11 counts of ethical violations, ruling that his failure to pay taxes, improper solicitation of fund-raising donations and failure to accurately report his personal income had brought dishonor on the House.

After a public hearing on Monday that was truncated by Mr. Rangel’s walking out in protest, an adjudicatory subcommittee of the House ethics committee deliberated for four hours before finding him guilty of all but one of the 13 counts against him. (Two other counts, involving Mr. Rangel’s misuse of House franking privileges, were merged into one.)

In a somber tone, Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California and the chairwoman of the panel, announced its findings just before noon. Ms. Lofgren described the contentious process as “difficult and time consuming” and said the committee hoped to decide on a punishment within days.

Comments:

Am repeating the drain the swamp image from a previous post. ('cause I like it!)

While the committee has the power to recommend expulsion, that is highly unlikely. Ethics experts and committee members have said that Mr. Rangel, 80, is more likely to face a letter of reprimand or a formal censure. ... While Mr. Rangel has been weakened by the long-running scandal, he will nonetheless retain the power to determine his own political fate. He has remained defiant throughout the process — at one point making a rambling defense of his actions on the floor of the House — and is all but certain to brush aside calls for his resignation from Republicans and government ethics advocates. Just this month he won re-election to a 21st term.